The Ed Bott Report

Get outspoken insights and expert advice on the products and companies that define today's tech landscape, from a source who knows these technologies inside and out.

Ed Bott

Ed Bott is an award-winning technology writer with more than two decades' experience writing for mainstream media outlets and online publications. He has served as editor of the U.S. edition of PC Computing and managing editor of PC World; both publications had monthly paid circulation in excess of 1 million during his tenure. He is the author of more than 25 books on Microsoft Windows and Office, including Windows 7 Inside Out (2009) and Office 2013 Inside Out (2013).

With Microsoft's decision to switch to Chromium for its Edge browser, Mozilla's Firefox remains the only major browser developer that still maintains its own alternative engine. In a world dominated by Google, can Firefox remain competitive?

After a delay of more than five weeks, Microsoft has resumed the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. The company also promised sweeping changes in the way it approaches quality issues, including better communication with customers.

If Microsoft wants to treat Windows 10 as a service, it has a responsibility to its customers to provide accurate information about problems with that service. Over the last month, the company has failed miserably in that regard.

Microsoft's much-hyped free upgrade offer for Windows 10 ended in 2016, right? Not exactly. The GWX tool may be gone, but all the other upgrade tools still work. The end result is an apparently valid digital license, and there's no evidence that the free upgrades will end any time soon.

Microsoft released the Windows 10 October 2018 Update on October 2, then pulled it days later. Now, with November fast approaching, the update has still not been re-released. Where's the problem? And will it happen again?

Over the past few years, Microsoft has embraced the Android operating system with surprising enthusiasm. With a large collection of apps for business available in the Google Play Store, you now have everything you need to turn an Android device into a Microsoft phone.

Opinion: The idea of delivering two full Windows 10 upgrades every year sounds great on paper. In practice, the Windows 10 upgrade cycle has been unnecessarily disruptive, especially to home users who don't have the technical skills to deal with those updates.

Microsoft announced that it has identified the underlying cause of the bug that deleted data for some customers who were among the first to install the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809). The fix is rolling out to members of the Windows Insider Program first.

Only days after releasing its latest feature update to Windows 10, Microsoft abruptly stopped the rollout and pulled the new version from its download servers as it investigates "isolated reports" of a data-destroying bug. What should you do now?

Windows 10 version 1809, officially the October 2018 Update,started rolling out October 2. Here are some of the new capabilities you can expect in this surprisingly feature-packed release. (This gallery is based on a near-final Insider Preview release.)

Microsoft will soon begin delivering the official release of Windows 10 version 1809, the October 2018 Update. If you do nothing, it will arrive via Windows Update some time in the next few months. Here's how to take more control over the process.

Microsoft started working on the hybrid devices that now make up the Surface family back in 2009. The group has made some missteps along the way, but today its lineup of Windows 10 devices is genuinely impressive and widely imitated. Here's how the brand has evolved.

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